Tags: document management system

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Tags: business planning | goals | strategic planning

Since we are fast approaching another quarter-end in a little over a month, it is a good time to look at whether you are on target to accomplish the goals you set for your business this year.  Being able to hit these yearly goals depends entirely on what you are doing on a shorter-term basis, daily, weekly, and every 90-days.  Here are some considerations when working on your 90-day priorities.

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Accomplishing your longer-term goals (3, 5, 10 years) requires breaking these down into one year and 90 day short-term goals which I will refer to as priorities.  From that, prioritize your weekly and daily tasks and projects to accomplish your 90-day priorities.  Sounds easy, right?  It’s not.  It takes a huge investment of discipline, patience, and focus for you and your staff to continuously work these 90-day objectives.  Discipline is needed to continuously work on your 90-day priorities, patience is needed to not set overly improbable expectations, and focus is needed to concentrate and work on your firm’s priorities.  If you work these 90-day priorities, you will see marked progress toward your longer-term goals.

Setting and continuously working these 90-day objectives is important for the following reasons:

• Identifies what you need to accomplish to help reach the firm’s goals.
• Prioritizes and provides focus on your tasks and projects.
• Establishes agreement between employee and supervisor regarding individual and department 90-day tasks and priorities. Everyone is “on the same page.”
• Provides accountability for each employee in the firm.

Setting and working these 90-day objectives should become a way of life in your organization. That way, everyone is speaking the same language and is focusing on the same things.  Each staff member will have different 90-day objectives, but together, accomplishing these objectives leads to attaining the larger firm-wide goal(s).

A few other things to consider in mind when identifying, creating, prioritizing, and working your longer-term goals and 90-day objectives.

• Put the goals and priorities in writing- this has proven to be an effective way of attaining longer-term goals. If the goals are in writing (documented) you will be reminded of and visualizing your goals, and therefore, more likely to accomplish them.
• Make goals action-oriented- When documenting the goals, use terms (verbs) like Complete, Finalize, Create, Develop, Prepare, Conduct, Analyze, Write, etc.
• Keep the list of goals between 4-7, depending on how time-intensive and involved these objectives will be.  If you try to do more than this number, you will only dilute your focus and accomplish less. Stay focused on a few to accomplish more.
• Prioritized the goals- The most important task or project needing to be completed to accomplish the objective should be first on the list. Continuously identify and prioritize each of your tasks and projects.
• Use a time deadline.  If you say “Goal X needs to be completed by June 30^th” (or whatever date) it creates more urgency.  Since these are 90-day objectives, new ones should be set every 90 days. March 31^st, June 30^th, September 30^th, and December 31^st work well for financial advisory firms since we are used to these dates from a markets and reporting perspective.
• Make them S.M.A.R.T.- You have likely heard this acronym with variations in the terms used. When you and your staff are creating goals, make sure they are S.M.A.R.T..  Are your goals…

• SPECIFIC- It has to be easily understood. A good rule for whether the goal is specific is…if someone outside the firm can read the goal and understand it, it is probably specific.
• MEASURABLE (and MOTIVATIONAL)- You need to be able to measure the goal. How many? How much?
• ATTAINABLE (or ACHIEVABLE and ACTIONABLE)- Don’t try to accomplish more than is possible in the 90-days.  You want to stretch yourself and your employees without setting unrealistic expectations.
• REALISTIC (and RELEVANT)- Your team needs to believe that the goal is attainable or you won’t be able to hold them accountable for reaching it.
• TIMELY (or TIME-BOUND)- Set a reasonable date for completion. By when? This helps create a sense of urgency.

Effectively executing our longer-term plan requires continually measuring progress toward our goals, creating a timeline, and holding each staff member accountable. Think in terms of 90-day chunks.

To be effective managers of our businesses, we need to continually monitor and work on our priorities and goals. This requires us to be disciplined, patient and focused.

Build your business wisely.

I've been reflecting on what's important in my business and personal life. Part of this reflection comes from contemplating my business--what direction to take it and how to make it better. Part of it was prompted by the recent tragedies in the news.  Time often seems to move too fast and things happen that are outside of our control.

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To achieve our goals, it's important to remember to manage our time effectively and focus on what's really important, on tasks that move us closer to achieving a longer-term goals.

Borrowing from Dr. Stephen Covey, try this exercise: imagine having a bucket of tiny pebbles, dozens of small rocks, and a small number of big rocks.  The rocks represent all the things you need to accomplish and the bucket represents time and resources.  

All of the pebbles and rocks can fit in the bucket, but only when placed in the proper order.  If you put the big rocks in first, you can fit the remaining smaller rocks and pebbles around the big rocks. But if you put the pebbles and smaller rocks in the bucket first, you won’t be able to fit the big rocks in.

This little exercise shows why it's important to focus on the big rocks first, on the important tasks to reach your goals.

It's easy to get distracted by little things.  We're all so easily tempted to responding to non-critical emails, schedule or attend unimportant meetings. We're all so easily distracted by clients who habitually take too much of our time. It's so easy to let people drop-in for a visit and hijack the day, or to get caught up with Facebook, LinkedIn, or surfing the Web. Such distractions leave less time time to work on tasks and projects that are important to reaching  short- and long-term goals.  The little things, th pebbles pull us off course, when the big rocks are what should get attention.

The big rocks are the three to five most important things you and your staff need to accomplish in a given period of time.  They represent those tasks and projects that are critically important to the firm’s growth and success as opposed to things that we may perceive as important but are often just “time thieves.” 

The big rocks are priorities. They provide the focus and drive the tasks and projects each employee works on and keep the firm from drifting off course.  When they become the focus of everyone in the firm, the rocks also become the main topic of conversation at meetings and employee reviews.  A few of these would include:  “Are we on track to reaching the big rocks?” “If not, why?”  “What course of action do we need to change or add?” “Did my employee reach their big rocks during the year?”

Review your big rocks twice a week. On Monday, identify what needs to get done during the week.  On Friday, review your (your staff’s) progress during the week to see if you are staying on course.

The “rocks” analogy is not only applicable to working on business but also on our personal issues. Spend time on the big rocks including… family, faith, health, friends, education, supporting a cause, making a difference in the lives of others.

This analogy is equally applicable to the lives of your clients. I’m sure some of them struggle with these same challenges and it can help them focus on what is most important to them.  It might also start a dialog between you and your clients regarding what is important to them and help develop a deeper client-advisor relationship.  If you know what their big rocks are, you can incorporate them into their overall financial plan.

Build your business wisely, live your life wiser.

If you would like to see Dr. Covey demonstrate the analogy, Google “Stephen Covey Big Rocks.”  There are a few different versions posted.

Tags: Advisor businesses | asset management | business strategy | mergers | RIAs; consolidation

Beacon Pointe Wealth Advisors (BPWA) today announced the addition of a fourth advisor partner, $100M AUM RIA Independent Financial Advisors of Riverside, CA. It's the fourth deal consummated by Beacon Pointe within a span of four months from the last transaction. Independent Financial Advisors principals James Valmonte and Teri Parker join BPWA as Managing Directors and equity partners.

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Beacon Pointe's RIA has $5.6 Billion under management and is afiliated with a CPA firm. Smaller RIAs are offered a chance to leverage Beacon's brand and "proven processes at the retail and institutional levels."

"Beacon Pointe Wealth Advisors is actively looking to expand into the Northwest, Denver, Dallas, Boston and Connecticut markets, and aims to add 35 to 40 offices nationwide over the next 10 years," says a press release. "BPWA is looking for growth focused, qualified advisors in the $100 to $300M range to join as regional partners. BPWA’s proactive path to growth benefits clients first and foremost, by empowering partner advisors to provide the best possible, truly fiduciary, custom-built financial models possible."